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Data Analysis

Student using the NSO
Credit: NSO
When astronomers get their image data from a telescope or satellite, they want to make measurements in order to do some science. To do so, they use special computer programs called Image Processing or Image Analysis software.

This software lets users take the huge grid of numbers that make up each image and turn them into a number of measurements, such as the brightness of a star or the size of a galaxy. They can also use the software to study the images in a lot of detail and find out much more about them than from just looking at a normal picture.

The NSO have developed a dedicated image processing package, called LTImage, to help you study and conduct measurements on images from the Liverpool Telescope. The LTImage software also allows you to scale the images and use false colours in order to see more detail.